Lia Leendertz

Last season, I failed miserably with my leafy greens from seed, such as Pentland Brig kale and spinach beet. My garden has numerous seed- eating birds, and the seed rows were rapidly obliterated by weeds. How can I get a good crop without the use of a cold frame or greenhouse?

There are two ways around this. The obvious solution is to start them off in pots (perhaps in basic plastic propagator trays with transparent covers) and transplant them once they are small plants. This sidesteps the bird problem, and the transplanted seedlings should be easy to distinguish from the weeds. However, I have been told that it's better to sow seeds of winter brassicas (kale, brussels sprouts, sprouting broccoli) direct into the soil, as this allows them to put down a deep tap root, which helps keep them stable during bad winter weather. (For similar reasons you must not feed and water them too much: they need to be toughened up in preparation for winter onslaughts). So you could try the 'stale seedbed' technique. This involves digging over your soil and then leaving it until the weeds germinate. You then hoe them off, taking care to disturb the soil as little as possible, before sowing your seeds. Then cover the whole thing with fleece: this will keep the birds away and protect the kale from flea beetle and cabbage whites later on, while protecting the spinach beet from frosts. Tardy gardeners take note: all of the winter brassicas have a long growing season and need to be well under way by the end of this month.

I want some shrubs for winter interest in my small (4ft x 8ft), sunny front garden. Would dogwood be too large?

Only if left unpruned. Dogwoods can be cut back to within a few inches of the ground every spring. This keeps them compact and produces the best coloured winter stems. Daphne cneorum 'Eximia' is a ground-cover shrub with strong fragrance and pink flowers. Get round your space problem by training Abeliophyllum distichum or Lonicera fragrantissima against a wall. Both have scented winter flowers.